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Monthly Archives: February 2017

A recent northern Nevada accident and DUI are calling into question the performance of state agencies for controlling multiple DUI offenders. DUI accidents in Nevada are unfortunately fairly common in Southern Nevada as well as in Northern Nevada. Drivers are generally supposed to be pulled off the road after their third DUI arrest, but the victim of a recent accident contends that the agency responsible for monitoring and enforcing that did not do its job, and that’s why her car is totaled, and she’s left holding the bag. From that recent news story:

“Stafford’s insurance paid only $7,000 for the totaled 2004 Honda CR-V, not enough, she said, to buy a comparably maintained and reliable vehicle. She now has a car payment she wasn’t expecting.

The Carson City Sheriff’s Office and the city district attorney are investigating the accident that ruined Stafford’s car as another impaired driving incident. Reports say police found medication in Reasoner’s state-owned Ford Explorer and he had traces of the prescription sedative Soma in his system.

‘I don’t make much money and am on a budget, so it’s going to be a hardship making that monthly payment,’ Stafford said.

But she concedes that the damage from the accident could have been worse, given that the vehicle was unoccupied when Reasoner hit it.

‘I was sitting in the car watching Netflix during my lunch hour,’ she said. The crash ‘probably would have killed me’ if the accident had happened a couple of hours earlier, she said.

No one was injured in the wreck. But a witness who was sitting in a nearby car said the state sport utility vehicle nearly hit her vehicle.

Stafford said the state hasn’t reached out to her and she only learned that a state employee was responsible after the Carson City District Attorney and her insurance company called her Wednesday about the incident. Those calls prompted her to obtain the police report.

Teri Williams, a spokeswoman for the agency that includes the transportation authority, declined to comment, directing questions to the state’s risk management department. It did not respond to a request for comment.”

If you suffer property damage from a DUI crash in Nevada, Benson & Bingham can help. Our attorneys deal with these kinds of cases all the time, and we know how to help. Contact us today for a free consultation to get started in reclaiming what you lost.